di The Victorian Age
The Victorian Age is the period started when Queen Victoria came to the throne (1837-1901).
It was a period of reforms[b/]:
First reform bill (1832) : it satisfied the middle class in part.
Infact workers organized a movement called "Chartist". With People's Charter (1838) they asked for the extension of the right to vote to the all working class.
Second reform bill (1867) : gave to town workers the right to vote (excluding miners and agricultural workers).
Third reform bill (1884) : the suffrage was extended to all male workers.
Other reforms:
The "Mines Act" (1862) forbidding the employment of women and children in mines.
The "Emancipation of religious sects" (1871) which allowed Catholics to hold government jobs and to enter the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Then there are the "Education Act" and "Ten hours working Act".
The Victorians trying to cover the unpleasant aspects of progress under a veil of respectability and facile optimism, for example with charity or the institution of workhouses. Because of this, the Victorian Age is characterized to having a double face: on one hand, Victorians think to help poor classes, but on the other hand they didn't.
